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Newsletter Issue #115: 10 Sep 2006

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Moditorial

Hey Everyone!

My name is Jeramiah Ross, I am from from Wellington, I perform music under the name of Module.

I'm a Acoustic Piano playing, Producer/Musician that does live Electronica ,Classical music + Whatever, and I enjoy playing the Guitar and experimenting with strange sounds though multitudes of effects processors and writing phat Hiphop beats, and 80's synthpop. Ive spent the last 10 years or so touring around NZ and Auzzie and writing and releasing music in many forms I also perform with Fly My Pretties & with my new band (playing keyboards and samplers) The Blush Response along with Rhian Sheehan, Paul McLaney, Raashi Malik and Ariel White. Oh its all so fun!!

So I hope you are all surviving the crazy weather we have been having as of late. Keeping warm and the good ol winter blues aint getting yer down! I've been hiding out in Island Bay which gets rather stormy from time to time. i kinda like it...its very... ummmm... awakening ! :)

Firstly I wanna say a huge congrats to The Blackseeds for getting a No.1 NZ Album. Those boys are dedicated and have put in a stupid amount of work and their success is highly deserved. Good stuff fulla's!

I've been thinking a bit about NZ music lately and where we are heading with it. We have come a long way from days of NZ music cringe to NZ music selling more in NZ than International artists. Who would have thought aye? Good Stuff!

But once you have conquered NZ what's the next step? A lot of artists and musicians hit the top of their fields and it seems the next step is to take it overseas, the other alternative is to bounce around NZ for a while and struggle to make money to cover expenses, the odd gig here and there but we all know even a trip overseas is a bit of mission let alone taking a band, or a DJ act over!

There are a few things around for funding and what not to get yourself over seas, beyond the blue. Most of the info is Internet (just Google 'Music funding NZ').

But I think its around time now to really focus on pushing NZ music overseas, of course things have become easy now with the likes of MySpace and other Internet networking tools, and acts such as Fat Freddy's, Shihad, The Blackseeds, Concord Dawn, Phoenix Foundation, Pitch Black, Evermore and countless others showing us it can be done.

So where the heck to start?

Well Australia is a great place doesn't cost that much to get there, and there is a huge market for NZ music, with lots of kiwi's living there and willing to help out, Melbourne is a great place to start with a vibrant music scene and lots of clubs, bars to play, when I was over recently it seems I heard NZ music just about everywhere!

All up for a weekend over in Auzzie with your 3 - 4 piece band + Accom your looking at around $1000 for flights and some more for general costs. If you don't mind taking the cheapest flight and sleeping in a crappy motel there are some really good promoters over in Australia too that are more than keen to help out to get you started.

Then where do you go?

Well Mamma always said the world is your oyster, and you are the pearl, so I guess its up to you. A good manager is the key, who can lock down good contacts, and take care of all the money. A lot of info about clubs and bars can be found just by Google, type your style of music somewhere you want to go and bingo!

So I guess what im really saying, is that yes, NZ music is awesome and we have spent the last 2 or 3 years patting ourselves on our backs in the warm glow of our creative accomplishments.

But I really think its time for established NZ MUSIC acts/bands to become WORLDWIDE acts/bands and our focus as a nation of music loving humans should be really on that, to help bands get overseas to further their audience base, sell more CD's play more shows, and in the end... be able to survive off music and our creative culture be loved not only by us but by many people from many nations, all around the world!

So Best of luck, first one around the planet wins a prize!!

Until next time http://www.myspace.com/modulelikesbeats

Module

Who are your favourite NZ bands and artists?

Kora for the amazing live shows
Rhombus for the wicked production
Paul Mclaney for his musical honesty and textures in his voice
SJD for his extremely lovley music
Paddy Free for his awesome energy and technical genius
Dave Dobbyn for his all round pure genius
Michael Nyman for his incredible Piano work
& All my extremely talented friends

What is your favourite NZ venue?

In terms of vibe, feeling and good times I'd say the good old Leigh Sawmill up past Auckland in terms of setup I would have to say sandwiches in Wellington they got nice big PA to vibrate everything with yep, gotta love those lower sub frequency's!!

What is the best live gig you have ever been to?

Trinity roots last ever gig a year or so ago in the wellington town hall they touched on something magic, Kora at Splore.. Yeeeh Haaa!!! Awesome!!!

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Hopefully if all goes to my master plan, a nice studio in the country or by the sea, married to a extremely beautiful girl, composing classical music for orchestra's and touring around performing to people all the time & creating music that I feel is honest to myself as a musician. (not too much to ask LOL)

How do you keep in contact with your fans?

Well the one and only way to keep in contact with a large fan base is of course the all mighty MYSPACE!!!! For those of you, (which will be not many) that dont know about it you can sign up, load your tracks, make your profile look cool, add videos, invite people with their profiles on myspace to join your page and then tell them all what your doing, in the short space of a few months I've had close to 4000 page views and got 600 or so people in my contact list, so thats the best way to promote yourself online, have the planet is on it... literally check out http://www.myspace.com/modulelikesbeats

What rumour would you like to start about yourself?

Paul McLaney and Rhian Sheehan were trying to start one that I'm more than over 100 years old cause they reckon I'm really good at figuring out most technical things, like programming massive keyboards and making software they reckon I must be like the highlander, like being around for hundreds of years and thats how i figured it all  out cause i was there at the birth of the technological age.... so thats a pretty good one :)

What advice would you like to give to other aspiring musicians?

There are a number of things I could give advice about based upon my own experiences but the best advice I could give anyone is that touring is the best way to build a fan base and as long as you stay true to yourself and the reasons why you are doing it in the first place then more than likey you will have a good long musical career.

Don't worry about any of the rubbish that comes with being well known and create music that is real to you. Thats what people connect with, and don't stop, no matter what.

You can find out more about Module on muzic.net.nz!

The Dylan Storey Band

The Dylan Storey Band is a four-piece rock/blues/psychedelic outfit from Auckland. They have just released their second Album Bones. It is a collection of 10 songs featuring fuzzy guitar tones with Hammond Organ, Fender Rhodes, slide Dobro and piano interlaced, reminiscent of the 70s rock legends such as The Allman Brothers or Rory Gallagher. Strongly melodic songs combine with prolific instrumentation and abstract themes to make this one of the most unique bands in the country.

Songs from the previous album Up in the Rough had alot of airplay on bnet radio with the single The Water reaching number 1 on bfm top ten in May 2005. Since then the Dylan Storey Band has built up a cult following in Auckand and have become renown for dazzling live performances combining rock sensibilities with an improvisational element.

The band will be touring the North Island this November and both islands in February.

To find out more, check these guys out on muzic.net.nz!

What's New!

New Artists

Check out the following bands and musicians recently added to muzic.net.nz:

Nahdus Tha Lyricist
Sea Fog
The Sentinels
Oliver

Sinfura

Also, be sure to check out our interview of Crash Test For Favourite Things.

Win FREE Stuff!

Our prizes page it looking pretty good at the moment! We're giving away releases from Equus, Stellar, Agent, Shapeshifter, The Rock and Roll Machine and Antagonist. Entering to win is really easy, just log in and head on over to the competition page.

NZ Top 10 Singles

  • APT.
    ROSÉ And Bruno Mars
  • DIE WITH A SMILE
    Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
  • BIRDS OF A FEATHER
    Billie Eilish
  • TASTE
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
    Gracie Abrams
  • ESPRESSO
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • SAILOR SONG
    Gigi Perez
  • LOSE CONTROL
    Teddy Swims
  • A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
    Shaboozey
  • GOOD LUCK, BABE!
    Chappell Roan
View the Full NZ Top 40...
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